Washi Tape Delivery

I might have a washi tape problem. And Etsy is one of the best places to find lots of great patterns and colors. So I ordered a few, or 11, from a shop called KitChenKitChenFUN in China, and so began my waiting period. Each day I would eagerly check the mail, hoping to find a fresh bounty of washi tape, and each day I would be disappointed. But today, today was a special day. I guess the Universe felt guilty for not letting me win the Powerball last night. (I could have bought SO MUCH washi tape...) Anyway, it came in this cute package with lovely Chinese bird stamps all the way from Hong Kong. I like the duckie one the best.

I also liked the lovely Chinese label on the back. No idea what it says, (apart from the English) but it's much more interesting than regular everyday USA mail.

And there they were, in all their neatly packaged glory:

I love a good neat package. I also love un-packaging. If I make it to the car without unwrapping something I've just bought, it's a miracle.  So, here is the haul:

I'm so excited to use all of these. The second one down on the left is yellow and black caution tape...that one is one of my new favorites. Stay tuned to check them all out in next week's Project Life post. And, for links to great washi tapes and washi projects, check out my Wishi Washi pinterest board. AH EXCITEMENT!

DIY Thanksgiving Menu

This year, I decided to add a festive menu to my Thanksgiving tablescape. It looks really snazzy, but it's really simple to make. I made mine in Photoshop in about 10 minutes. The supplies you will need are:

• 5x7 White Cardstock
• Washi Tape - Mine is from World Market
• Photoshop
• Printer

First, you'll want to open a new project in Photoshop. Make a custom preset, with 5" width and 7" height. Anything you want to print should be at least 300 pixels/inch.

When your document is open, you're going to want to mark off the space for your washi tape so you know where to align your typing. Go to view, click New Guide, and set your first of three guides.

Select vertical orientation, and set your guide at 1 inch.  Depending on the size of your washi tape, you'll want to set another guide to the left of the first, so you can visualize where it will go on the final printout. My washi tape was 5/8 inches, so I set mine at 3/8 of an inch.

Here, you can see what your document will look like with the washi tape guides on it. These will not print out, so you'll have to approximate where it goes once you've printed it out. Lastly, you need to add a center line guide for the area to the right of your washi tape so you can center your text appropriately, which for me turned out to be at the 4" mark.

Next, choose your fonts and colors and type up your menu. For the diamond accent shapes, I used the period from a free font called Rezland, and for the headline text I used a free font called Modeno. The body text is Sathu, which is included in Photoshop. Choose whatever color scheme best matches your table, and type in your menu.

Next, you'll want to save your document (but saving all along is important as well), and then save it as a Photoshop pdf as well. Print as many copies as you need directly from photoshop onto your 5"7 paper. The program will know to print on 5"7 paper because of the preset we made at the beginning.

Once you've printed out as many menus as you need, take your washi tape and wrap it all the way around the card, with your seam on the back. My cardstock had a grain to it, so I used that to make sure the washi tape was on straight. I used the first complete menu as a guide for aligning the rest of them.

And there you go, a quick and easy menu to add to your table. Happy Thanksgiving!

Project Life: Nov. 11-17

This week, I really didn't do a whole lot, what with STILL being sick and all...thankfully, the worst appears to be over. I did end up getting a full two page spread, plus two inserts. The first insert will be posted later, because both printers decided to go on strike before I could finish it. The second insert is a secret, because it contains my mystery homemade holiday treats, so that page will come along with the complete tutorial. So, here are the goodies:

I used Becky Higgins Page Design A. The header card is from the Project Life Cobalt Edition Core Kit, and I attached one of the cute little ephemera flash cards I found at a vintage shop - this one says "week."I added an homage to twinkies, as it looked as though we might lose them - thankfully, our junk food is safe. There is a picture of Scott's new iPhone, as he is finally joining the 21st century. And, of course, I started this blog this week, so I had to include a large 4x12 print of the homepage.

I used Becky Higgins Page Design B. This was not so much for the design of this week's spread, but for next week's - I designed a vertical header card especially for Thanksgiving.  I really like the look of using multiple slots for one picture. In this case, I used the two vertical 4x6 slots on the top left to remember my scooter-bound shopping adventure (my lung capacity is far below normal, and Thanksgiving shopping would have been too much without it). Scott was only home one day this week, and he spent it with his Kiwi. She played tug of war with his shirt for a while, and then they both fell asleep, which made for a great photoshoot. The header card is from the Project Life 4x6 Textured Cardstock Cobalt Pack and I pasted on one of the Project Life 3x4 grid cards. The pink washi tape is from World Market. The journaling card is also one of the  Project Life 3x4 grid cards.

I expect the next layout to be huge...the main two pages will obviously be Thanksgiving related, but we've done a lot this week, some major home makeovers included. Plus, my family will be visiting and we will be doing all sorts of fun activities, which should make for a lot of Project Life-ing. But hey, it's a holiday, so it's gonna take a lot of real estate. Apparently, it is quite common to fill several binders per year, and, at this rate, I'll probably end up with three or four at least by the end of 2013. So, back to getting my house ready for our first official house guests. Happy prepping!

11 Thanksgiving DIY Projects

Like I need an excuse for crafts...but Thanksgiving is right around the corner! As a kid, a paper chain related scissors mishap sent me to the ER for stitches on Thanksgiving, but I have since become more careful with my holiday crafting, and I still have all 10 fingers. In the spirit of the holiday, I've rounded up of some of the best DIY turkey day crafts to get you in the season! So, here are the goodies:

DIY Linen Thanksgiving Napkins 

I love a good coordinated napkin, and these are simple yet stylish, neutral yet bold and, best of all, easy to make. Whip out your sewing machine and make some custom napkins to spice up your Thanksgiving table.

 

Tutorial at the Purl Bee 

DIY Corkboard Leaf Trivets

You can't have a DIY holiday roundup without Martha. These quick to make trivets will look great with your table decor, and keep your table linens safe from your hot hot hot food.

Tutorial at Martha Stewart

DIY Thanksgiving Wall Art

I love this simple, rustic art piece. It will remind your guests what the holiday is all about, while jazzing up your wall.

Tutorial at The Gathering Place Design

 

 DIY Kids Table Decor

Our family is in that phase where there are no kids (don't look at me, Mom), but I'm a sucker for a really well done kids table. Keeping the kids occupied with crafts allows the adults to enjoy their dinner, and who wouldn't feel special with such a festive place setting? Kids Table Rule No.1: Always provide crayons.

Tutorial at Fiskars

DIY Leaf Garland

This colorful garland will brighten up your mantle or buffet, and is incredibly simple to make. It also makes a good craft for older kids to do so they can help with the festivizing of the house.

Tutorial at A Beautiful Mess

DIY Vintage Doll Holiday Placecards

You can't hear me humming the Mad Men theme song, but I am. Now you are too - sorry. These vintage paper dolls are a unique way to let everyone know where to sit, and they'll be sure to catch everyone's eye. Plus, they fit perfectly in adult beverage glasses, so you can all play Mad Men during dinner.

Tutorial at Apartment Therapy

 

DIY Mini Caramel Apples

Anything mini is automatically a winner, and I love a good nature craft. Do you have sticks? Do you have apples? Go buy some caramel. Now you have a tasty treat to enjoy during the parade!

Tutorial at Allyson Baker Design

DIY Kraft Paper Kids Table

I cannot stress enough the importance of crayons at a kids table. Covering the table in Kraft paper is an invitation to the artist in every kid, and it's a festive autumn color (brown, brown, brown). At the end of the night, each kid can cut out his or her masterpiece for a Thanksgiving souvenir!

Tutorial at Sweet Paul

 

Wine Bottle and Label Printables

Let your guests know how thankful you are to see them with these stylish labels! Stick one on a bottle of wine to jazz up a hostess gift, or put one in favor boxes, if you're one to give favors after slaving away over the stove for a whole day. 

Printables at PapernStitch Blog

DIY Mini Paper Pumpkins

Well, these are just adorable. I want to make a thousand of them and put them all around my house and live in a land of teeny pumpkins. I will be the giant pumpkin queen.

Tutorial at Craftaholics Anonymous

 

DIY Mini Cornucopia Favors

Everybody needs a cornucopia on Thanksgiving. I, however, would fill mine with candy, because nobody wants nuts. Nobody.

Tutorial at Live Laugh Rowe

Project Life: Oct. 28-Nov. 3

I was super excited to be able to put together my first full week layout for Project Life. A good chunk of my week was spent in the hospital, but I had a lot of good stuff from the Presidential election to fill up my page. Also notable from this week, I truly began my love affair with Washi tape. I even went so far as to make a whole Pinterest board about it...it's that serious. So, here are the goodies:

.I used Becky Higgins Page Design A. The header card is from the Project Life 4x6 Textured Cardstock Cobalt Pack and I pasted on a patterned journaling card from the Project Life Cobalt Edition Core Kit. I also found the little vintage french flashcard in a cute shop - it so happened to say "Pneumonia," which is all too appropriate. I printed the large photo, and cut it to fit in three pieces. I also added some text to the photos in Photoshop. The journaling card is a  Project Life 3x4 grid cards. I also made an instagram template, which I still need to perfect before sharing, and taped it to a Project Life plain white 3x4 journaling card with green washi tape from Martha Stewart's Cottage Christmas pack.

I used my trusty Aidox corner rounder to make everything rounded, as I like it. I used Becky Higgins Page Design A, and a header card from the Project Life Cobalt Edition Core Kit. The journaling cards used both for the regular journaling and alongside the photos are Project Life 3x4 grid cards. The plain blue washi tape is from Target, and the red chevron is from Martha Stewart's Cottage Christmas pack. The black typewriter labels are from the K and Company SMASH label maker. The Romney and Obama placeholder cards are printables by Kinsey Wilson.

All in all, a very successful first spread, if I do say so myself. Look what I've begun.

Project Life: Starting and Backlog

I tend to do most of my crafts in bed. Whether I'm laying back and knitting, or using all of the bed real estate to do a paper project, I just like to be comfy when I craft. I'm planning to turn our third bedroom into a beautiful craft room, and I'll still probably end up in my bed. But who can blame me? My tush is comfy, and I have a whole space to spread out. So when back to back pneumonia and a respiratory virus forced me into bed for 14 days, -and counting- I needed a craft. Thankfully, I found Project Life.

For those of you not in the know, Project Life is a simplified scrapbooking/journaling experience where you put together all those photos you take each and every day into a great life log - a physical blog, if you will.

I'll admit, I always gave the side-eye to scrapbookers; with their rolling bags, puffy thematic stickers and piles of craft scissors, in my mind, they were the Yankee Candle Party Ladies of the crafting world. But this, this called to me. Project Life is sleek. It doesn't look cheesy, mostly because it is about 75% photo album, but it allows a lot of room for creativity. It looks like a magazine layout, and, not only is a lot of it prepared for me, but it gives me a reason to craft each and every week. And oh, the sheet protectors. I have a problem with sheet protectors, and the multitude of designs available to me for this project make me squeal like a piggie. The only issue is, most people tend to start at the beginning of the calendar year, but I needed to start right away - I have important end of the year events to chronicle! I decided to start with some photo pages with instagrams from earlier in 2012, a a half layout for our move, a little bit about Scott's new job, and a half layout about Halloween week, and from then on I would do a weekly layout. So here are the goodies:

We had a lot of photos from Halloween week, so I didn't need too many filler cards. I overlaid a few of them with text in photoshop, and I used my trusty Aidox corner rounder to make everything all matchy. I used Becky Higgins Page Design A, and a journaling card from the Project Life Cobalt Edition Core Kit. The orange header card is from the Project Life 4x6 Textured Cardstock Cobalt Pack and the black and white washi tape is from K and Company Smash.

For our big move, I used Becky Higgins Page Design A, and a header and journaling card from the Project Life Cobalt Edition Core Kit. I overlaid some typing on my photos in Photoshop, including a nice bill from the vet for Kiwi's little foot emergency - she couldn't let us put all our attention on the move, now could she?

For the instagram pages, I used a coin collecting page protector, which fit the little squares perfectly. They live in the front of the book, even before the title page. I printed the photos on photo paper as a contact sheet in iPhoto, I used a Smash Stick to glue them on, and I cut out little frames for each from the the Project Life 4x6 Textured Cardstock Cobalt Pack.

 

I also added a mini page, Becky Higgins Design J, to showcase some oversized instagrams that didn't quite have a place to go. The first three are from Scott's new job, and the other side has some football fun and a particularly adorable Kiwi pic. I put this mini page in between the Moving page and the Halloween Page.

So, I got all of my backlog out of the way. I think it does a nice job of including important photos from the rest of the year, while blending in with the weekly pages to come.